Solomon’s History of Geelong
Every now and then we get a donation of books or magazines that just demand your attention.





In the middle of January, I received an email from Miranda Mair. She was in the middle of that sad liturgy which is the clearing out of your parents’ home after a life lived well. It was in her mum’s unit that she found three magazines that had originally been her grandfather’s and had in turn been passed onto her father. She knew they had valued them and wanted that respected or even cherished.
Her grandparents were William John Mair and Ruth Mair. They had chosen to settle in Newtown after they married and it was there they raised Miranda’s father Ian and his younger sister Pamela. Her grandmother stayed on after her grandfather passed away and she later moved into an aged care home at Port Fairy where she eventually passed away. When her Dad died in 2011 her mother inherited them. It was when cleaning out her Mum’s unit in 2023 that they resurfaced. Miranda’s mother recognised their importance but was unsure of what to do with them. In her email Miranda said her father would be thrilled that the the Geelong Historical Society now has them. So over the coming months I am going to dip into them and let you cherish these memories too.
The three magazines Miranda has donated were but some of the many produced by Solomons, the Geelong department store and each contains snippets about the history of Geelong, one per page. The inspiration of these publications – our own very society! Solomons had its origins in 1908 when Julius Solomon arrived here from Talbot, near to Maryborough. Julius first opened a drapery business in the Colosseum Building on Malop Street. On June 5, 1913 a new store was created fronting Moorabool Street, on the east side, between Malop and Little Malop streets.